First up was a 5km time trial, won convincingly by Mick Hoult with a time of 7:39. John Scott-Hamilton was second fastest with a time of 7:58, but was relegated to last place due to an infringement at the turn around. This meant that Brent Weston was second on the stage with a time of 8:02 from Pat McMillan on 8:03.

B grade was won by visiting rider Tom Apthorpe of Inverell with a time of 8:23, with Bill Mara second (8:28) and Mark Haydon third (8:33). Mick Sozou won C grade with a time of 8:58, narrowly ahead of Dave Rubie (8:59) and Dean Bourke (9:01).

Stage 2 was a 30km road race for A and B grades, and 20km for C grade. A grade was won by John Scott-Hamilton with Andrew Kirk second and Andrew Swan third. Peter Creagan took out B grade from Bill Mara and Mark Haydon, while Dean Bourke was too good for Mark Jones and Mick Sozou in C grade.

With quite a lot of pursuiter’s cough in evidence, the riders transferred to the track for the final criterium stage. Andrew Kirk reversed the road race result by winning A grade in front of John Scott-Hamilton with Andrew Swan third (although it has to be said that had it been the TdF, Kirkie would have been disqualified for over vigorous use of the helmet on Mitch Bullen’s arm!).

Mark Haydon finally got a win in B grade, with Tom Apthorpe second and Peter Creagan third. Mark Jones won C grade ahead of Dean Bourke and Dave Rubie.

In the final standings Kirkie won the overall in A grade. Mick Hoult was runner up and won the prize for most combative rider, after his excellent time trial, and for continually attacking and driving the winning break in the road race.

Tom Apthorpe set up the win in B grade with his time trial and continued to ride consistently throughout. Mark Haydon was runner up in B grade, finishing on the same number of points as Tom, but losing out on the time trial.

C grade was closely contested, with Dean Bourke winning from Mark Jones, and Mick Sozou and Dave Rubie not far behind.

Videos of the finish of the road race are shown below, along with full results of the time trial.

Thanks go to the race marshals Phil Thomas, Bob Murison and Nick Myhill without whom it would not have been possible to run the event. Thanks also to Dave Jenner who had to sit out the first two stages while he ran the junior racing program.

* relegated to last place in A grade due to infringement at turn around

Since his win in the Tamworth Junior Tour in June, Sam has competed in the Canberra Junior Tour, followed by the Queensland Junior time trial, road race and criterium championships. Up against a number of second year under 15’s Sam performed very well in these events, finishing mid-field against excellent competition.

Last weekend Sam and the family traveled to Sydney where he won a bronze medal in the NSW country road race championship. On the Sunday he was again successful in the Southern Cross open, with a 4th place in the road race and 2nd in the criterium.

All this will undoubtedly stand him in good stead for the Inverell Junior Tour coming up on the last weekend in July.

Another rider who has been working hard is Mitch Bullen, who represented NSW at a track cycling Grand Prix in Adelaide. His best result was a 4th place in the keiran.

On the local scene, club racing on the weekend featured a criterium, with A grade won convincingly by John Bentley. B grade was an excellent race with Mark Haydon driving the pace hard throughout, whittling the field down to a group of four including himself, Chicka Russell, Nick Myhill and Peter Creagan. Nick attacked with three laps to go and looked for a while like he would stay away. But the race came together with a half a lap to go, with Chicka winning from Nick in second and Haydo third, and only half a wheel between them.

C grade riders enjoyed a relaxing race with John Scott-Hamilton recording his second win in a fortnight with Andrew Kirk second and Brent Weston third.

Meanwhile in France, Ole Mikkelsen’s valiant attempt to pace Cadel Evans up the Col de la Madelaine in stage 10 of le Tour ended in spectacular failure, with Ole poorly hydrated after running out of beer the night before the stage. This was a great disappointment after the progress he made with his climbing ability while in Armidale.

Please look at the Coffs web site for more details.

The format will be a 5km time trial for all grades, followed by a 30km road race for A and B grades and 20km for C grade. The final event will be a criterium at the Traffic Education Centre.

Juniors not entering the mini tour should contact Andrew Swan on 0402 209 990 so that we can plan what to do as an alternative to the usual junior racing.

Following this was a 5 lap handicap won by Karlee from Freya, with Brent in third place. They finished with an Italian Pursuit which was a very close affair until the final lap when the team anchored by Brent got the edge on Dean Bourke’s team.

Brent then backed up and rode in A grade with the seniors in a 30km scratch race on Dangarsleigh Road . A grade was a fast race with the inevitable attack coming from Mick Hoult about 5km from the finish. There were several unsuccessful counter moves to try and get across to him, before the bridge was finally made in the last kilometer. This set the finish up for a bunch sprint which was won by John Scott-Hamilton from Mick Hoult, with Pat McMillan third.

In B grade Peter Wilkinson tested out his fellow competitors by continually increasing the pressure on the hills, eventually whittling the leading group down to himself, Mark Haydon and Bill Mara. After struggling to hang on at times Haydo was able to win the race just ahead of Billy who was finishing fast. Wilko proved he is getting his legs back by winning the sprint for third place.

In C grade Phil Bookalil recorded his first win for the club, while Jackie Weston capped off a good day for the family with a second place. It was also good to see former Armidale rider Georgie Harwood in third place.